Internally displaced persons (IDPs) are
the best placed to articulate their needs and evaluate the national, regional
and international responses to those needs,(1) but most decisions on situations
of internal displacement still do not sufficiently reflect their thinking.

The purpose of this report is to make
better known how IDPs view the major issues affecting them. Listening to
their voices is important because:

- The special needs of IDPs are often
different from those of other war affected populations.

In many conflict zones today, the targeting
and uprooting of rural populations and their forced displacement is an
integral part of the war strategies of rebel or government forces. Notable
recent examples include Sudan, northern Uganda, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire,
Burma and Somalia.

IDMC identified the need to develop and
test a methodology to assess the number and situation of IDPs in urban
centres, to complement the Guidance on Profiling Internally Displaced Persons.
The resulting Tufts-IDMC profiling study aims ultimately to help all organisations
which assist and promote the rights of IDPs in conflict-affected countries
to collect and analyse information on people displaced into cities.

The project

IDMC managed the project in partnership
with the Feinstein International Center at Tufts University in the United
States.